The President of the Regional Government of the Azores said that notwithstanding the diverse opinions expressed in the RSC’s meeting, the social partners and the government reached a consensus regarding the aims of the Strategic Plan for 2009 and the Medium-Term Strategic plan. He added that differences of opinion are always constructive because they allow the government to rectify its policies.

On Friday afternoon, Carlos César spoke at the end of the RSC’s meeting, which took place in the city of Horta. The meeting gathered representatives from business associations from diverse sectors, cooperatives, unions as well as three notable figures that were suggested by the President and accepted by the RSC: Serrão Santos, researcher; António Maio and Gualter Furtado, bank managers.

The President, speaking to journalists, said, “this Regional Strategic Plan for 2009 and the Medium-Term Strategic Plan are a concoction of two fundamental strategic orientations: on the one hand, one has to do with the model of development that we wish to implement and, on the other, with the short-term measures designed to deal with the difficulties generated by the international economic crisis in the Azores.”

Carlos César said that this Strategic Plan has been endowed with more than 760 million euros of state investment that is directed both at the public and private sectors, with the aim of preserving employment, protecting the incomes of families and ensuring the viability of Azorean companies.

The President added that it is Plan “ that emphasises vocational training and economic competitiveness thus safeguarding regional public finances, a vital consideration to soundly proceeding with our development and with the materialisation of our policies.”

The President also expressed his conviction that the government responded to the social partners’ most important concerns: “a reinforcement of public investment and supporting the private sector in economically productive areas that are affected by the present crisis so as to enable the Azores to make the productive structures and capacities of its business sector more resilient as well as increasing the available income of our families.”